Stamford Hospital breaks ground

Published 3:45 pm, Wednesday, May 15, 2013

STAMFORD -- Stamford Hospital has officially broke ground on its new $450 million facility.

Equipped with hardhats and shovels, hospital officials lifted the first scoops of dirt near the Whittingham Pavillion during its official groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday.

"This day is the culmination of many years of hard work and planning," said Brian Grissler, president and CEO of Stamford Hospital.

The new hospital includes a new main hospital building with private rooms and private bathrooms and a new emergency department with separate treatment areas for trauma, cardiac, urgent, behavioral health and pediatric patients.

"The idea is to make the hospital less institutional," said Scott Orstad, corporate communications manager at Stamford Hospital.

"The hospital design is conceived around three key words -- embrace, care and heal. The new hospital will be open and welcoming. These types of environments stimulate healing for patients."

Other new features include expanding the current size of exam rooms, surgical suites and the intensive care unit. The pediatric unit will be relocated to the Whittingham Pavilion building, where the hospital's maternity ward is currently located.

The construction is expected to be complete by 2016.

"This is another great day in the city of Stamford, said Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia. "Breaking ground for the new Stamford Hospital is going to be a record setting event, a monumental event, an event that sets the tenor and pace for what we're expecting Stamford to be in the future."

In preparation for the construction, the hospital combined two of its main entrances into a joint entrance at the Whittingham Pavilion in April.

To accommodate visitors during construction, the hospital now provides free valet parking.

"Not only are we breaking ground for a new hospital building, we're also establishing … a great magnet for the Westside of Stamford -- a magnet that will completely change the land use of the Westside of Stamford in a very positive way. It will be uplifting to every business. It will be uplifting to every resident and it will redefine one of the greater areas in the city of Stamford," said Pavia.